SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- City lawmakers today gave Onondaga County access to 51 city properties and streets targeted by the county as potential locations for new trees, porous pavement or other improvements to help keep stormwater out of the sewer system.

County officials have an aggressive plan to complete 50 public works projects this year — including green roofs, tree plantings and others — under its Save the Rain program. The program aims to keep sewers from overflowing into local creeks during heavy rains.

All the projects will take place in Syracuse, but some will be on county-owned sites. The measure passed today gives the county flexibility to undertake projects on city property -- at no cost to the city -- without getting permission for each one, said engineer Matthew Marko of CH2M Hill, the county’s consultant.

Marko estimated that the 50 projects in 2011 will capture 40 million to 50 million gallons of rain water annually. Under a 2009 federal court settlement to prevent water pollution, Save the Rain must capture about 250 million gallons by 2018. Between now and then, the county will plant about 8,500 trees in Syracuse, Marko said.